Why less gravity on moon

One last, fascinating idea. Do you wonder about the gravity of Mars , or the gravity of Jupiter? There are some cool calculators out there that let you take your weight and see what you would experience on other planets. Check this one out. Its gravitational pull is incredibly strong, meaning its huge weight presses so hard on the atoms in its centre that they glue together.

This is called nuclear fusion , and it creates enormous amounts of energy. With only half the gravity, the sun would be like a much smaller star with only half its mass. Such a star would not be twice, but eight times dimmer. It is not unthinkable that it would be rather pleasant on the surface of Venus. You can:. Portsmouth Climate Festival — Portsmouth, Portsmouth.

Edition: Available editions United Kingdom. The moon is just over a quarter of the size of the Earth. But the moon is made of similar stuff as the outer bits of the Earth, which are less dense and float on top of the heavier core in the middle, like oil floats on top of water. Read more: Curious Kids: what would happen if the Earth's core went cold?

This means the moon actually has 80 times less mass than Earth. So, the gravity on the moon is 80 divided by 14 six times as weak. But beware: when you come down after your record-breaking jump, the landing will feel just as hard as it does on Earth. The fastest jumping human being ever was Javier Sotomayor, who reached a speed of 7 metres per second, and a height of 2.

The speed at which you jump does not depend on the strength of gravity — it depends on your muscle strength and skill. What about fleas? The Moon's surface gravity is weaker because it is far less massive than Earth. A body's surface gravity is proportional to its mass, but inversely proportional to the square of its radius.

The Apollo astronauts were able to walk on the lunar surface because the Moon exerted a gravitational pull on them. Of course, the astronauts were able to leap higher on the Moon than on Earth because the Moon's surface gravity is so comparatively weak.

When on Earth, a fully suited Apollo astronaut weighed about pounds, equipment included. His weight was only about 80 pounds on the Moon.